The quote above comes from Patrick Lencioni and is a very true statement. We have to face and resolve issues when they come up, or they will fester and create further problems down the road.

I was recently encouraged to read one of the author’s books called, “The Five Temptations of A CEO: A Leadership Fable.” You can find the book by CLICKING HERE. The book stresses that it’s important for a leader to be vulnerable to those productive disagreements so that the company can continue to move forward.

As a sales professional, it’s your responsibility to be the voice of your customer. You have to impress upon management what you are hearing from the street. It’s important that you make every effort to work within the company’s objectives and to use value-based selling techniques to win new customers. You do need to make sure that those company objectives are not diametrically opposed to what your customers want and need. If they are, a nice little conflict internally might help to move your organization for the better.

Data dumping or Feature dumping doesn’t answer the question we have discussed so many times, WIIFM (What’s In It For Me). Without the WIIFM answered the value of the product isn’t established. It doesn’t matter if you are selling bowling balls or gold bars, the customer needs to know how owning the product will affect them positively.

I have to give credit for this post to one of the trainers who had a big impact on my career. Lorin made it clear in his training that we needed to find out how our customers worked and about their industry. I know that I have been guilty on sales calls of being too excited about my own product. I don’t mean to say that it’s bad to know your product so well and how it will positively impact your prospect, but you can get in trouble by giving too much irrelevant information.

Customers do love to buy. They just need a compelling reason to do so. You have to find out what makes that prospect tick. Be sure to ask the right probing questions. Make sure that you find out where their true need is and how your product can fill that void. If you do that correctly, your customers will open their wallets.

Here is a nice follow-up to my previous post. Gitomer is one of my favorite sales authors out there. Here is a great little video that explains the difference between the drop in call and a cold call. Enjoy.

The mere mention of cold calling often strikes fear into the hearts of grown manly men. What was once a staple in traditional B2B sales organizations is starting to go the way of the dodo bird. The question is, should it?

Cold-calling offers several advantages in certain industries. There are still industries that rely on the quick sale. Industries that you work with small business owners and show them a small item, product or service that will help improve that business. These types of sales often are very quick, and generally, are the first step in creating multiple buying opportunities for that product.

These sales often are emotional purchases initially. They are often completed because a “show and tell” or “demo” has been done in such a way that it solves a problem so effectively that the business owner will give it a try. The risk is low because the initial buy-in is low. When coupled with genuine sales skill, these sales can be made and new customers can be achieved.

Cold-calling also is a decent way for new sales people to get used to selling. Notice that I said it’s decent and not necessarily the best. Cold-calling can lead to frustration, high turnover and can teach new people manipulative selling practices in order to hit new account growth targets imposed by an out-of-touch management team. The focus shouldn’t be on cold-calling, so much as, developing talent organically.

Those negatives listed above are just the beginning. Surely you have noticed that everything seems to move faster now than it ever has before. There is so much access to information now, that the mind can hardly comprehend it. Look at your existing customer base, how many have the internet, how many are on social networks, how many have smart phones? They are constantly bombarded with information and now hardly have time to get everything accomplished.

This lack of time doesn’t have to work against you. Why not leverage some of those new tools that are out there. Why not create a video of you doing your “demo”? Why not create social media profiles to reach more people? Why not create QR codes based on your products and include those with invoices or other mailings? Leverage technology and don’t fight it. Your customers will appreciate getting relevant information that can help their business. They will appreciate you not interrupting them while they are trying to be productive. You will be rewarded with more leads, more sales and a fatter wallet.